Salisbury rolls out new Fibrant Web site

The homepage of the new Fibrant website.

By Mark Wineka

mwineka@salisburypost.com

Fibrant, the city of Salisbury's new fiber-optic cable utility, has gone public with a new website.

The site answers the questions: "Who is Fibrant," "What is Fiber to the Home?" and "How Do I Sign Up?"

On that last topic — signing up — you'll only be put on an e-mail list for now, sending updates on when the Fibrant network for television, telephone and Internet services expects to be launched.

The developing utility will put the city in direct competition for customers with Time Warner Cable, AT&T and satellite services.

The Web site — www.fibrant.com — also gives construction updates, answers frequently asked questions, features a blog and has contact information.

Meanwhile, a Salisbury delegation is heading to Raleigh Wednesday morning to hear discussion on House Bill 1252.

Municipal officials have characterized the bill as an industry-supported effort to discourage cities from getting into the broadband business while maintaining the monopolies private providers already hold.

Doug Paris, assistant to the city manager in Salisbury, said he, Mayor Susan Kluttz, City Manager David Treme, Broadband Services Director Mike Crowell, RowanWorks Director Robert Van Geons and Salisbury businessman Brad Walser will attend from Salisbury.

Walser, owner of Walser Technology Group on South Main Street, has been invited to speak to the Revenue Laws Committee.

Paris said he thought much of Wednesday's discussion would revolve around economic development. He predicted more critical discussions might take place after the General Assembly's short session begins May 12.

"That's really going to be the time, if they want to get this thing moving against (cities)," Paris said. He described it as a bad bill for Salisbury and a bad bill for North Carolina.

The Revenue Laws Committee will be meeting in Room 544 of the Legislative Office Building in Raleigh.

A year ago, the Public Utilities Committee, chaired by Rep. Lorene Coates, D-Rowan, voted unanimously to have a committee look at House Bill 1252, which the N.C. League of Municipalities opposes.

The bill would require cities providing broadband services to comply with laws applicable to private providers. It would prohibit cities from cross-subsidizing communication services with other governmental funds.

Cities also would have to impute costs that would be incurred by private providers and annually remit to the city's general fund those costs.

Last year, Kluttz pushed for a study committee to look at the bill believing such a study would show "how bad it is."

Communities United for Broadband's Facebook page says the cable industry is pushing for the bill "to stop communities from investing in fiber optic infrastructure."

Wilson launched a $28 million broadband system named Greenlight in 2008. Salisbury followed by lining up its financing and starting construction on its own $30 million system, recently named Fibrant. It could be launched in some neighborhoods as early as this summer.

The city touts Fibrant as bringing cutting-edge digital services and competitive prices to every home and business in the city.

"When the project is completed, Salisbury residents will enjoy a whole new level of telecommunications with superior quality, outstanding local customer service and better value than any competitor offers," the new website boasts.

Fibrant will be, the website adds, "distinctly different from current providers" in offering incredibly fast speeds, thanks to fiber-optic technology all the way to the home or business; dependable, local service; more selection and choices in programming packages; and a "future-proof" network that won't become obsolete.